Fuse cells are widely used in integrated circuits. As an example, fuse cells can be used to store addressing information of defective memory cells in an array for redundancy applications. FIG. 1 shows a conventional fuse cell 101 comprising a pull-up circuit. As shown, a fuse 110 is coupled between the pull-up (logic 1 or high) power source and ground (logic 0 or low). Coupled between the fuse and the pull-up power source is a fuse cell output terminal 160. The output signal of the fuse cell indicates the state of the fuse (cut or uncut). A cut fuse produces a logic 1 output while an uncut fuse produces a logic 0 output.
When the fuse is not cut, the pull-up power source is coupled to ground via the fuse. Thus, even when the fuse is in a static state, power dissipates through the fuse which increases the IC's power consumption. The increased power consumption is undesirable, particularly for low power applications.
As evidenced from the above discussion, it is desirable to provide an improved fuse cell with reduced or no static power dissipation.